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01 December 2010

Leisure Outside the Home

Executive Summary:

This report from Key Note examines the market for leisure activities outside the home which was valued by Key Note at £60.4bn in 2009, representing just 7% of total consumer spending. In comparison, households spent £36bn on in-home leisure in the same year (e.g. television, reading, gardening), revealing that the balance remains in favour of leaving the home for leisure.

By far the largest component of leisure outside the home, in value terms, is alcohol, which was worth £26.5bn in 2009 and includes alcohol consumed with meals at restaurants and other venues, although, the pub still remains the largest alcohol outlet. Recent trends has seen a move away from ’session drinking’, however, and towards the more civilised meal occasion, with the eating out market (excluding alcohol) worth £13.1bn in 2009.

Gambling is another major attraction for leisure spending, with the £8.7bn ’lost’ by consumers in 2009 including all types of gambling (including ’punts’ made within the home). Gambling is also a cultural phenomenon involving distinct and traditional leisure activities, such as joining bingo clubs or casinos, attending days ’at the races’ and visiting amusement arcades and betting shops.

Other important out-of-home activities are often more difficult to evaluate in monetary terms but Key Note’s survey for the Leisure series evaluates consumer involvement in both commercial and ’free’ activities. In 2010, simply visiting friends or relations in their homes (VFR) involved 81.2% of adults on a regular basis (at least weekly), while other simple pleasures include going shopping or window shopping (58.2%), countryside walks or walking the dog (54.9%) and keep-fit activities (50%). All of these cheap, simple pastimes now exceed regular visits to the pub, restaurants, sports grounds and cinemas.

This Key Note report is available to current London Business staff, students and faculty from Key Note Online which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases within Portal.